BOSTON – Attorney General Maura Healey is concerned that in addition to the Trump administration’s plan to open up restricted coastal waters to offshore oil and gas drilling, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement now plans to weaken current regulations.
The rules were put in place to reduce environmental and safety risks in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion which killed eleven people and spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf.
It is considered the largest marine oil spill in history.
Healey has joined a coalition of attorneys general in submitting comments opposing the proposed changes.
They said a major spill off of the Massachusetts coast has the potential to be a disaster of historic proportions.
The Bay State’s commercial fishing industry is the third biggest in the country with a current value of 7.3 billion dollars.
Advocateas said the tourism and recreation industries could also be devastated.
The other AGs joining Healey are from Maine, New York, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia.
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